Left handed kids - teach them to play right handed?

oldfoxy

If I remember correctly wasn’t Gary Moore a lefty playing righty? 

A bit like me only light years better

Shrews

Mixed-handed. But play left-handed, just some things feel like I should be doing right-handed and other things left handed.

The biggest problem I see with a kid who's a leftie and given a right handed guitar to play is the kid struggles, loses confidence, thinks they're a dumbass, and goes back to playing the X-Box.

That surely is the primary consideration before cost, choice etc.

If they want to swap over after they've learned, so they can play their mates guitars etc, then that's up to them. But for learning then I say you should just make it as easy as possible for them.

PAL

It's a cop out if your left handed learn to play left handed. I'm right handed and teach guitar and bass at the moment I am
 teaching both to left handed players . Bottom line is the teacher is being lazy.
 The thing is guitar is difficult anyway ad to that someone playing in away that doesn't feel comfortable so the chance of giving 
 up is higher. When I teach I tell the student to imagine my playing is the reflection in a mirror and I do the same thing when 
 explaining things. It's the same with a chord book put it in front of a mirror and the chords become left handed not only that
 there are chords for left handers on the internet. Good luck I hope this helps.

CHRISB50

I'm left handed, and I have always played left handed.

Went a friend's house having never picked up a guitar before, instantly felt more comfortable fretting with my right hand.

I play golf / cricket right handed, but can't get my head around playing guitar right handed.

It should be up to the person doing the playing. If they feel more comfortable playing left handed, let them do it.

Most of the issues raised about learning left handed seem to be about choice of guitars. Sure it can be frustrating not having as much choice when buying a guitar. But surely the purpose of the guitar is to play music on it. Not worry about what colours of what model and make may be available at any point. It's a silly reason to push someone to play right handed. 

Forcing someone to play in a certain way that doesn't feel comfortable to them is more likely to make them quit. Playing the guitar is supposed to be fun so it sounds counterproductive to me.

@Tannin, you're talking bollocks.

Sporky

I wonder if there is (potentially) an advantage to fretting with your non-dominant hand, in that that hand us usually stronger. Dominant hand mostly does the finer control stuff.

Probably too much a generalisation to be useful other than as something to ponder. 

Power-Beef

Sporky said:

I wonder if there is (potentially) an advantage to fretting with your non-dominant hand, in that that hand us usually stronger. Dominant hand mostly does the finer control stuff.

Probably too much a generalisation to be useful other than as something to ponder. 

I am a righty playing righty, but I had wondered about that very thing, i.e. if I should play lefty to utilise my dominant hand for fretting. But I never ventured down that road.

The unexpected benefit is that I can use chopsticks now even on my left hand. It's great for BBQs and cooking in general.

One of my exes is Lefty playing righty, he says he's glad he made that decision as there are just so many more righty guitars than lefties.

Lestratcaster

I'm a leftie to write and hold my phone to my left ear. However I play right handed. I can kick with both feet though weirdly enough. I'm a tutor and only one of my learners plays left handed. Makes it a bit tricky to swap guitars and have a go on his guitar but I wouldn't make him play right handed if he didn't want to. He's doing great as well.

guitarjack66

brucegill said:

I can’t believe they actually recommend that in this day and age?! 

They’re left handed. Play left handed. 

This is where the word sinister is from,I believe? left handed or sided. Back in 'olden times' people thought left handedness was the work of the Devil and discouraged,even forced,right handedness on people. As @brucegill says,this is not something that should be forced on anybody and especially kids. Shame on people who act like this in the 21st century.

stickyfiddle

There are two issues here:
1) whether it's easy or fair to make kids play right handed when they're left handed
2) the implications of playing right or left handed later on

On 1 I would suggest it's definitely not ideal, but there are plenty of famous lefties who play righty, so it's not impossible. Particularly if the player is picking up their first ever instrument then everything they're doing with both hands is entirely new. 

On 2, this is where playing righty has a much bigger impact imo. It means having a wide choice of instruments available to buy. It means being able to pick up any random guitar in a friend's house or airbnb and play it. It means being able to trade instruments on the fly with bandmates (this is HUGE imo). And it means less risk of clashing headstocks on stage because everything is pointing the same way. 

Worth noting is this is basically the only instrument where this discussion is even entertained. You don't get leftie violins, lefty pianos or lefty saxophones*. 

Why limit yourself? 


(*I'm aware you can technically get lefty violins and saxes but the market for them is 4 blokes and a whippet)

Sporky

That whippet is a hell of a fiddle player though. 

roberty

I learnt right handed as a lefty but I was already grade 5 on the clarinet by then. I saw the guitar and a social instrument and I didn't want to be excluded from playing when there was a guitar around

Robert Fripp and Bob Balch are also left handed right hand guitarists so maybe it's a Robert thing

guitarjack66

There are some people who just naturally play music or sport in an unorthodox way to the conventional way of thinking. Phil Mickelson is right handed but plays golf as a lefty for example. My missus plays air guitar as a lefty even though she is ...a right pain,I mean right handed! Whatever is comfortable to the player is what should be the deciding factor.

euan

It’s always telling that one of the top reasons to learn right handed is a materialistic one. 

Jalapeno

brucegill said:

I can’t believe they actually recommend that in this day and age?! 

They’re left handed. Play left handed. 

Ever seen a left-handed violin/viola/cello/bass/piano player ?

viz

Jalapeno said:

brucegill said:

I can’t believe they actually recommend that in this day and age?! 

They’re left handed. Play left handed. 

Ever seen a left-handed violin/viola/cello/bass/piano player ?

Don't know! Good point!

euan

Jalapeno said:

brucegill said:

I can’t believe they actually recommend that in this day and age?! 

They’re left handed. Play left handed. 

Ever seen a left-handed violin/viola/cello/bass/piano player ?

Bowed instruments, by the fact that there is an expectation that they'll play with others in close proximation, are pretty discriminate. Someone who can only play left handed will be given a right handed instrument, won’t be able to play it, told it isn’t the instrument for them and hey presto no left handed players.

Brad

Yeah but piano, saxophone, violin… blah blah blah….If my auntie had balls she’d be my uncle. 

We’re talking about the guitar here and unfortunately for anyone who’s gears this grinds, left handed guitars are here, they are more readily available and higher quality than at any point. The fact we don’t have left handed pianos etc is an issue for those particular instruments to address (or not, I don’t care) and a problem left handed people unfortunately will have to face. 

That we don’t have that issue with the guitar should be celebrated. Before anyone cries about Paul McCartney playing left handed bass/guitar but right handed piano as a way of justifying forced right handed playing, does anyone think he wouldn’t have tried playing guitar right handed? 

Them famous left handed guitarists that play right handed… maybe they were forced to play right handed, maybe they just knew no different, maybe… shock horror… it was just more comfortable like the vast majority of us lefty’s that play right handed?

It’s completely superficial, but imagine Hendrix playing right handed and the right way round? Nowhere near as cool!

Jeeze, go check out Jimmy Haslip, Eric Gales or Mono Neon if you want your head twisting, tell them they’re doing it wrong

Go learn the guitar left handed for a while. How does it feel in comparison to how it was when you first started?

Music and learning the guitar should be an inclusive endeavour and it’s a real positive that the option is there for those that benefit from it. I don’t care what other instrument do or not. If left handed guitars being available means people actually stick at it and get enjoyment from it, I seriously don’t get what the problems is. 

Brad

P.s I do actually care about other instruments, I think there should be left handed everything

euan

Except scissors. Anyone who can’t use a pair of right hand scissors should be shot. 

Mattharrier

euan said:

Except scissors. Anyone who can’t use a pair of right hand scissors should be shot. 

Depends on the scissors. Big kitchen scissors that are designed for cutting through chicken bones and the like are shaped for right handed use, and are torture on the left hand.

And if you want to shoot me, come at me bro. I'll use my right handed shotgun to shoot you (I shoot left handed so I'll probably miss...)